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SERGIO VENEGAS-QUIÑONEZ: ACCORDING TO LCSUN-NEWS.COM, MEXICAN CITIZEN ARRESTED IN CONNECTION WITH THE KIDNAPPING AND ASSAULT OF AN OFF-DUTY U.S. BORDER PATROL AGENT
— 6/17/2017

El Paso, TX - Two men have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping and assault of an off-duty U.S. Border Patrol agent.

The arrests come after an FBI-led investigation that involved 125 federal agents and other law enforcement officers.

The agent, who court records identify as 30-year-old Lorenzo Hernandez, was found the night of June 9 on the side of a road in Doña Ana County with severe injuries to his head, hands and chest.

On Friday, Doña Ana County and the FBI announced that two men — Sergio Ivan Venegas-Quiñonez, 33, and Fernando Puga, 31, both of Las Cruces — were arrested this week and charged with various felonies in connection with the attack.

Venegas-Quiñonez is identified in an FBI news release as Quiñonez-Venegas and in El Paso Jail records as Sergio Ivan Venegas.

Federal kidnapping charges were filed Friday against Puga and Venegas-Quiñonez in El Paso.

The FBI said that Venegas-Quiñonez, who is a Mexican citizen also known as Solo Vino and Pedro, was arrested Tuesday afternoon at a construction site in the 10500 block of Tomwood Avenue in East El Paso, the FBI said.

During the investigation, Texas Department of Criminal Justice bloodhounds were used to try to track the suspects and the U.S. Border Patrol checked vehicles heading into Mexico.

Venegas-Quiñonez was charged with aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm and aggravated assault, officials said Friday. He remains in custody at the El Paso County Jail, awaiting extradition to Doña Ana County.

Puga, alias "Cholo," was arrested by 10 law enforcement officers at about 12:15 p.m. Thursday at the Community of Hope Center at 999 W. Amador Ave. in Las Cruces, the FBI said. He was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder.

Puga made his first court appearance Friday via video arraignment from the Doña Ana County Detention Center, court records show. He was advised of his charges and his bond was reduced to $200,000 secured.

The investigation included El Paso, Socorro and Horizon City police, the Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Incident began in El Paso

According to the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office, Venegas-Quiñonez and Puga spoke with Hernandez on June 9 as he was helping his mother at her tamale stand near the intersection of Stan Roberts Avenue and McCombs Street in Northeast El Paso.

Hernandez then left in his vehicle with Venegas-Quiñonez and Puga, the FBI said.

The FBI said that Hernandez was forced to drive 46 miles to a semirural area about 100 yards from the Rio Grande in the 6000 block of Shalem Colony Trail, west of Las Cruces area.

Around 11:40 p.m. that night, a sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to Paradise Lane near Shalem Colony Trail. The deputy reported finding a 30-year-old man with multiple lacerations to his head and arms. The man was later identified as the off-duty agent who was reported abducted by the suspects in Northeast El Paso.

The victim, subsequently identified as Hernandez, told deputies that the two men were armed with a gun and a machete. Detectives said Hernandez was struck repeatedly with the machete.

The gun was later discovered to be a pellet gun.

Suspects said they needed ride

In a statement to a sheriff’s detective, Hernandez said he was at his mother's tamale stand when two men approached. He said the men had told him that their vehicle had broken down on Amparo Road in Chaparral.

Hernandez said he agreed to give the men a ride to a gas station in El Paso. One man sat in the front passenger seat of Hernandez’s vehicle, and the other sat in the rear on the driver’s side.

In a separate statement with sheriff's deputies, Hernandez’s mother said she had urged her son not to give the men a ride, saying “something wasn’t right,” according to court documents. But, she said, Hernandez told her that he would be fine and be “right back.”

About two or three minutes into the drive, Hernandez said, the men pulled out weapons — one had a gun and the other had a machete — and instructed Hernandez to follow their orders, according to the court records.

Hernandez said they “drove into New Mexico and he ended up at a water canal,” the documents state. The men then told Hernandez to get out of the car, he said. But when he did, he said, he “went after the male with the gun."

“While doing so,” the documents also state, “the second individual with the machete began to strike him with the machete.” Hernandez said he was able to run away and seek help.

Court documents revealed that two of Hernandez’s fingers on his right hand were partially amputated during the incident.

He also had fractures on his hands and multiple lacerations on his upper torso, in addition to a possible brain hemorrhage. And he had to undergo surgery to repair torn tendons and the partially amputated fingers, according the court documents.

When Hernandez did not return, his mother told deputies that she had a friend try to locate Hernandez through a locator app on his cellphone, according to the court records. His phone “pinged” on Interstate 10, north of Mesquite.

Dispute in Chaparral

That same night, just before 9 p.m., sheriff's deputies responded to the 100 block of Amparo Road in Chaparral on what was initially believed to be an unrelated domestic dispute.

Deputies learned that Venegas-Quiñonez had been at the home, demanding to see his ex-girlfriend. The woman’s sister told deputies that he threatened her with what appeared to be a handgun.

The sister said Venegas-Quiñonez had been driving an older-model red Nissan — the same vehicle that deputies found on the side of McCombs Road, just south of the New Mexico-Texas state line.

The Sheriff's Office said the vehicle matched the description provided by the victim on Amparo Road. Physical descriptions of the two suspects also matched those given by the victim on Amparo Road, Hernandez and his mother.

Agent's legal troubles

When U.S. Customs & Border Protection announced the assault last week, the agency reported that the agent was assigned to the border checkpoint in Deming.

Hernandez, according to reports from the Deming Headlight, had been assigned to the Deming station and had previously made headlines when he was arrested in July 2015.

Court records show that Hernandez was charged with child abuse and other offenses. The Headlight reported the charges stemmed from an incident at a residence in the 4200 block of Tigua Road in Deming on June 27, 2015.

Hernandez, then 28, had allegedly threatened suicide and fired a single round from a 40-caliber handgun while intoxicated and with his 5-year-old son, according to court records.

Hernandez was arrested in Roswell about a week after the episode on a warrant charging child abuse, negligent use of a firearm and using the telephone to harass or annoy, the Headlight reported.

Last summer, a jury convicted Hernandez of negligent use of a firearm and using the telephone to harass or annoy, both misdemeanor counts, according to court records. But the jury failed to reach a verdict on a felony child abuse charge, forcing a mistrial on that count.

In December, he was retried on the child abuse charge and was acquitted by a jury.

Earlier this year, he was sentenced on the two misdemeanor convictions. He was given a deferred sentence and ordered to serve a supervised probation term of one year, five months and 29 days, court records show.

Hernandez had been scheduled to appear in Luna County District Court this week for hearings in separate criminal and family cases. Those hearings were vacated on Monday, court records show.

CPB officials on Friday declined to comment on Hernandez.

Texas court records show that Puga has an extensive criminal history. Dating back to 2003, Puga has been arrested on numerous charges including, aggravated robbery, burglary, evading arrest, marijuana possession and assault on a family member, among other charges.

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